Islam considers Jesus - Issa - second only to Muhammad. Unlike Christians, they do not consider him divine

Farida and David Ali in the prayer room of the Burnaby mosque on Canada Way. The couple shared their thoughts on Christmas and how they as Muslims celebrate the holiday.

Photograph by: Ward Perrin
, Vancouver Sun

The Muslim imam at the Burnaby mosque is expected to speak about Jesus on Dec. 25.

Except the imam will not call him “Jesus” during the Christmas Day gathering. He will refer to him as “Issa,” the Arabic name for Jesus. Muslims consider Jesus the second greatest prophet after Muhammad.

Speaking inside their elegant mosque sanctuary, at the Masjid al-Salaam and Educat ion Centre on Canada Way in Burnaby, Farida Bano Ali and David Ali were describing the many ways, both religious and secular, that the imams and other Muslims in Metro Vancouver will engage the Christmas season.

The Alis — pillars of Metro Vancouver’s Sunni Muslim community, who married in the 1970s — said they place a great emphasis on Jesus and his mother Mary.

And as a sign of their reverence for Jesus, both Farida, a psychiatric nurse, and David, a retired Telus engineer, made sure that every time they utter the Arabic name, “Issa,” they add, “Peace be upon him.”

That is the phrase David and Farida also interject after they say the name, “Muhammad,” whom they consider the final prophet. The world’s 1.2 billion Muslims believe both Jesus and Mohammed were messengers of God. But, unlike Christians, they don’t think Jesus was divine.

That’s just some of the religious overlap at Christmas, during which Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Farida and David also get a kick out of the secular side of North America’s seasonal extravaganza, with all its bright lights, Santa Clauses, shopping and family feasts.

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Many people find it both odd and disturbing that global conflicts constantly arise among Muslims, Christians and Jews — given that the followers of each monotheistic faith have much in common.

Adherents of all three faiths are known as “The People of the Book,” since they all consider the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament, holy. They are also bound together by mutual reverence for Hebrew prophets such as Abraham (“Ibraham” to Muslims) and Moses (“Musa”).

Given the historical links, Fijian-born Farida and David, both of whom came to Canada in the 1970s, have no trouble with the fact the statutory holidays of Christmas and Boxing Day have mostly Christian roots.

They appreciate how Christmas time brings out the parallels between Islam and Christianity – including the utmost respect Farida and David hold for the mother of Jesus, Mary.

There are more mentions of Mary in the Qur’an, where Mary is known by her Arabic name, Maryam, than in the New Testament.

Farida and David make it clear they join many traditional Roman Catholics in believing Mary was literally a virgin when she conceived Jesus.

“According to the Qur’an, she wasn’t married,” said Farida. “She wasn’t touched by a man. But the angel said she was pregnant, that she had to believe in this.”

In his classic book, What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, Georgetown University professor John Esposito provides more background: “The Qur’an upholds Mary as one of the four perfect examples of womanhood.

“The Qur’an teaches that Mary is to be revered because she completely submitted herself to God’s will, even though it meant that her own family would accuse her of unchastity when it was discovered she was pregnant. The Qur’an also records Jesus as an infant verbally defending Mary’s innocence.”

Referring to her own mauve head scarf and dark ankle-length robe, Farida said Mary is a model of chastity and modesty to many Muslim women. “We dress the way she did. It has a good influence on us.”

However, Farida pointed out she is no meek-and-mild pushover. She thinks that is a stereotype held about Muslim females by many Western men and women.

Although Farida is inspired by Biblical women like Mary, Farida laughed as she emphasized she is a highly confident person and quite adept at being “assertive and aggressive.”

A dynamic community organizer, Farida is insulted when Western feminists declare that Muslim women shouldn’t wear head scarves, claiming it’s a sign of their oppression. Such Western women, raised in a libertarian culture, Farida said, seem to know next to nothing about real Islamic women or the tradition’s valued teachings.

Although Farida has always been a strong person, she said she learned to be even bolder while working as a nurse among the criminally insane at Colony Farms Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, where every second word began with “f.”

Farida also meets frequently with politicians to talk about ways to combat domestic abuse among Muslims and others. She is a director of the Lower Mainland’s Muslim advisory committee to the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

In addition, David and Farida have been leaders in encouraging fellow Muslims to donate food for Burnaby’s homeless. Farida maintains they are predominantly mentally ill people who deserve Muslims’ kindness and aid.

At Christmas time, Farida and David said the mosque will make extra appeals for food donations for the poor.

That’s in part because Muslims strongly believe in zakat, in giving a sizable portion of their wealth to those in need.

“Islam,” said David, “says you have to feed your hungry neighbour before you eat yourself. You have to be a good human being.”

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Like many other Metro Vancouver Muslims, Farida and David tend to enjoy the non-religious aspects of the Christmas season.

They often take their grandchildren out in their car to look at the houses most lavishly decorated with Christmas lights. “Then we go home for hot chocolate,” David said.

David and Farida don’t put up their own Christmas tree (although some Metro Muslims do). But they have a big Christmas meal on or around the Dec. 25 holiday, serving “all the best food, the things people enjoy.”

Sometimes they have squeezed in the annual feast on whichever day is convenient to their family, since they often tried to earn double-time pay by working on Christmas and Boxing Days.

As a result of being raised in the British-influenced country of Fiji and attending university in London, England, Farida sometimes serves Christmas meals that include traditional British turkey, cranberry sauce, baked potatoes and (David’s favourite) trifle with custard.

When she was in her twenties – and like most young people “less religious” — Farida said, she would also often go to Christmas and Boxing Day sales looking for bargains.

But the appeal of a high-consumption lifestyle has worn thinner as Farida and David have grown older and become more focused on morally preparing for death and the next life, in which they believe both Mohammed and Jesus will play key roles.

This is where Muslims’ more serious side of Christmas-related belief in Jesus comes in.

Farida and David see Jesus as a “very humble and charitable person” – a model for how to live a good life, one that will be pleasing in the eyes of God (who is referred to as “Allah” in Arabic).

As they spoke inside their calligraphy-decorated Burnaby mosque, Farida and David went out of their way to declare how they are like, and not like, Christians.

They do not revere Jesus as the only son of God. “Why would God need a helper?” David asked rhetorically.

In the Qur’an, Jesus is a major figure, second only to Muhammad. “But it’s not maintained in the Qur’an that he died on the cross, only that he’s taken away by God,” said David of Qur’anic denials that Jesus was crucified.

These are the kinds of issues that will be probed, David said, on Dec. 25th when The B.C. Muslim Association sponsors a public talk titled “The Truth About Jesus in Islam.” It begins at 6 p.m. at Masjid Al Haqq, 4162 Welwyn in Vancouver.

In Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God (CopperHouse), University of Toronto-educated professor Amir Hussein explains the religious background further: “While Muslims accept Christ as messiah, they do not believe that he is divine. In this way, Muslims are like Jews, thinking that the Christian doctrine of the trinity detracts from pure monotheism.”

This theological interpretation began to make sense decades ago to David, who was raised a Methodist Christian in Fiji. He converted to Islam after meeting Middle Eastern Muslims in England in the 1970s.

He was struck by the many parallels between Judaism, Christianity and Islam and came to the conclusion Mohammed was the final prophet in the Abrahamic lineage. “Islam seems to be the end of things.”

Nevertheless, the Qur’an refers to Jesus many times in exalted ways: As “servant of God,” “prophet,” “messenger,” “spirit,” “sign,” “example,” “a mercy,” “upright” and “blessed.”

A number of miracles are also associated with Jesus in the Qur’an, including creating birds from clay.

Another significant difference, however, between how Christians and Muslims view Jesus is in the route to salvation.

“Muslims do not believe in the notion of original sin, and so do not think we need to be saved by Jesus’s death,” writes Hussain, a professor at Loyola Marymount University in California who often comes to Canada to speak in Christian churches, including in B.C.

“Like Jews,” Hussain writes, “Muslims do not believe that someone else can atone for our sins, and so do not believe that Jesus was sacrificed for our sins.”

Despite the important doctrinal disagreements, Farida and David are convinced Jesus will play a role on Judgment Day. They believe Mohammed and Jesus will return together at the end of time.

“On the last Day of Judgment,” David said, “Mohammed and Jesus will collect all their followers, all who believe in one God, and they will have a prayer. They will face Almighty God together.”

In Oil and Water, Hussein maintains that such doctrinal parallels between Islam and conservative forms of Christianity provide common ground for inter-faith connection.

Even though liberal Christians do not believe in a literal Judgment Day or even atonement theology, Hussein suggests there are many other “bridges” — including Muslims’ ongoing emphasis on Jesus, Mary, justice and peace.

As they prepare this year to enjoy another Christmas in Canada, Farida and David agree there are many paths to greater inter-religious understanding in a dramatically multicultural city such as Metro Vancouver.

“We can disagree on some things,” said Farida: “But in the end it’s all about respect.”

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